Monday, June 18, 2012

I have fallen a bit behind on posting about new recipes I've been cooking and baking lately. Our planned trip to San Francisco and unplanned trip to Indianapolis have put me off my rhythm the last couple of weeks, but finally feeling back into the swing of things.

This past week my new recipe was shrimp florentine pasta. Sadly, I've never actually cooked anything with shrimp before and this was my chance. Luckily, it's super easy and tasty! This was am incredibly simple and easy to make recipe and we found it quite tasty, although a little bit spicy (whoops!). I added fresh basil from my garden (love!) but I forget that a little fresh basil goes a long way. Next time I won't add quite so much it. Overall, this was really yummy and will definitely be making it again!

The thai enchiladas were also really tasty and easy. Essentially, they were exactly like any other easy enchilada recipe, just with asian flavors instead of a mexican. We enjoyed it!

Right before leaving for San Francisco I made an "Asian Surprise" dish, so named because I knew I was making something Asian but didn't exactly have a recipe. I used ingredients I was familiar with: ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil and sautéed the steak with these sauces as well as the veggies and threw everything over rice. It was actually simple and easy but I loved the flavors.

For our 2nd anniversary I made pizza following Jim Lahey's easy crust recipe. The crust was really easy to make, but a little bit trickier to work with than what I was used to. The crust was very tasty but hard to bake. I used a pizza stone and followed the temperature and time directions, but my thin pizza stone was not up to the temperature task and I cracked my stone. I also am clearly not practiced enough with the pizza peel, which causes stress when trying to put my nicely topped pizza onto the stone. The pizzas themselves were great, but the effort to make them was a little bit much for me.

Finally, to go along with the pizzas I made chocolate chip cookies. These were easy and awesome! YUM!

Two Three weeks ago (wow, it seems like much longer!) I visited my best friend LizAnne and her fiancée Josh at their home in San Francisco. She has lived in San Francisco since 2007 and I haven't ever had a chance to make a trip out to visit. It was definitely worth the wait! Josh asked LizAnne to marry her in March and I decided I really had to make plans to visit to celebrate their engagement and discuss all things wedding (I am LizAnne's matron of honor!)

Visiting a place like San Francisco is awesome, of course, just because it is so different than Oklahoma City, but what I loved most about this trip was getting to hang out with LizAnne in HER city and her home. Being in the space where she and Josh live was really great and made everything feel certain in my mind! Now when we chat on the phone I can visualize where she is and all the little details of her apartment. I know they thought it was funny but I had fun photographing their apartment and loved the resulting images...all shot on Kodak film and taken on my Canon AE-1. I love film!

Being the impatient person that I am, I am not excited that it will be awhile before I get to travel out again to San Francisco for THEIR WEDDING, but I enjoyed this trip very much!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I cannot believe another month has gone by. I missed May sadly, but enjoyed documenting a day in 12 photos again in June. I didn't have anything big planned and actually almost forgot about the day so this was truly a "day in the life" type post. A lot has been going on in June and I have a lot more to work through, think about and hopefully very soon, write about here, so I was glad to have some fun and easy photos to post here. Incidentally, June 12th is my parents 30th wedding anniversary and I am so grateful for the love they had for each other. I started the day with a bike ride to downtown and was able to ride by the Chesapeake Energy Arena to check out all the additions for the NBA Finals. I love seeing all the Thunder pride throughout the city and feeling the city come together to support our team. I enjoyed the ride (my longest ever at 33 miles total, plus a 4 mile run), but then had to get back to work, with a quick reading break (a guilty pleasure!) before preparing to THUNDER UP for game 1 of the NBA Finals. I made one of my best pizzas ever (the crust - whole wheat - was perfect) and it tasted so good! The game was in OKC against the Miami Heat. It was nerve-wracking and stressful, but we WON the game!! It was a good day.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

May has been an interesting month for me so far. I've had to adjust to life post-Boston and figure out what the heck I'm doing with my life. It's really clear now that I defined my life through my goal of running in the Boston marathon. With that goal accomplished, I'm left wondering what's next for me.

Trying new recipes (one per week, and I love it!) Made my first homemade pesto and was surprised at how ridiculously easy it was. How have I let myself be intimidated by this ingredient for so long?

Baking project (40 cookies!): Thanks Brooke for a therapeutic baking day last week that made me feel better and inspired me.

Attempting house organization (first step, clearing out the clutter in our closets!)

BIKING!

Driving my new car. A beautiful, dark gray Subaru Forester that I LOVE!

Running a lot but with no specific goal in mind (really enjoying running for the joy of running!)

Trying to get in great shape (P90X-style...ha!) for my 10 year High School reunion in June (Am I THAT old?)

Home renovation plans are beginning - picked out a paint color I think I'm settled on and I am very close to picking out a tile.

Goal of growing basil and now rosemary on my back porch...wish me luck! (They've survived a few weeks now!)

THUNDERING UP and cheering for the Thunder in the playoffs! BEAT LA! BEAT THE SPURS!

Drinking a lot of coffee. And iced coffee.

Back to cooking pizzas again. Bought a new book at this amazing bookstore in San Francisco called "My Pizza" by Jim Lahey which has inspired me to try new things.

Trying to brainstorm new personal and professional photo projects for this summer and really trying to stick with them!

Heading to San Francisco for a fun filled weekend visit with my best friend LizAnne and her fiancé, Josh. We had an amazing time with them (more on our trip in a future post)

Celebrating two years of marriage to my love, Will in our usual style: homemade pizza, ice cream + cookies and a Thunder game (too bad they lost!)

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Hey!

Hi! I'm Heather, wife to Will, Mama to Kate Amelia, photographer, marathon runner and food lover. Running is as much a part of me as breathing, baking is my therapy and photography is my self-expression. Here I talk about what I'm eating, my running and my little family! I love cooking healthfully with some treats sprinkled in. In April 2012 I lived my dream and ran the Boston Marathon. Running, photography and even baking are all a part of my motherhood adventure! Enjoy!